Combined garment and covered stay, and method of making the latter



June 4, 1963 ROSEMAN COMBINED GARMEN T AND COVERED STAY, AND METHOD OF MAKING THE LATTER Filed Dec. 25, 1960 INVENTOR.

Zea Rosemazz M ATTORNEY United States Patent Oil" 3,09%1 l3 Patented June 4, 1963 This invention relates in general to garments of the nature of corsets and girdles and particularly such garments that include stays formed of metal or synthetic plastic substances having end portions disposed at the upper or lower edge of the garment. When garments of this type are worn, the edges are ordinarily located near a portion of the body which bends or twists during normal body movements and there is a .tendency for the ends of the stays to dig into the flesh of the wearer of the garment so as to cause discomfort and sometimes injury.

A primary object of the present inveniton is to provide a novel and improved construction of a garment and a stay which shall reduce or eliminate the possibility of the ends of the stay digging into or uncomfortably pressing against the skin of the garment wearer at any time.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combination of a garment and stay such that when the garment is worn, one or both ends of the stay and particularly the end thereof disposed at the upper edge of the garment, will be directed or extend away from the skin of the garment wearer so that the possibility of the end of the stay digging into or uncomfortably pressing against the skin shall be eliminated or substantially reduced.

It is another object of the invention to provide a novel and improved garment stay and a method of making it wherein the stay shall have one or both end portions so shaped and related to the body portion that it may be applied to the edge portion of a garment in such a way that the end portions extend or are directed away from the skin of the wearer of the garment.

A further object is to provide such a stay and cover therefor, and a novel and improved, simple and inexpensive method of making and assembling the stay and said cover.

Other objects, advantages and results of the invention will be brought out by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a girdle and stay embodying the invention, showing the front portion of the upper edge of the garment turned outwardly .to expose the inner side thereof and the stays;

FIGURE 2 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary central vertical sectional view through one of the stays and the corresponding portion of the garment showing it schematically in normal relation to the skin of a wearer of a garment;

aF-IGURE 3 is a perspective view of the combined stay and cover, illustrating an early stage of the making and assembling of the stay and the cover;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional View on the plane of the line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing a later stage in the making and assembling of the stay and cover, with portions broken away for clearness in illustration;

FIGURE 6 is a detached perspective view of the blank of which the stay is formed;

FIGURE 7 is a detached perspective view of a moditied form of the stay; and

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view on the plane of the line 88 of FIGURE 7.

Specifically describing the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURES 1 through 6, the invention has been shown as embodied in a known type of girdle A that includes an elastic body-encircling portion having an uperly shaped dies.

per edge B and a lower edge C that are normally disposed at or above the waist and below the hips of a wearer of the garment, respectively. During movements of the body of the garment wearer, the edge portions of the garment, particularly the upper edge portion, are rolled outwardly by the bulging flesh of the wearer that occurs during, for

example, bending of the body as when stooping or sitting. The invention contemplates the securing of a plurality ,of novel and improved stays generally designated 1) on the inside of the garment adjacent the edge thereof, particularly the upper edge adjacent the waistline. In accordance with the invention each stay includes a resiliently flexible body 1 formed of suitable material such as metal or synthetic resin plastic substances that is preferably enclosed in a cover 2 formed of suitable soft flexible material such as textile fabric; and at least the end portion of the body of the stay at the upper edge of the garment and if desired both end portions of the body of the stay are bent out of the general plane of the main portion of the body as indicated at 3, and is enclosed in the cove-1' 2 which is secured as by stitching 4 to the inner side of the upper edge portion of the garment with the end portion of the stay extending or directed toward the outer side of the garment so as to extend away from the skin of a wearer of the garment that is generally designated E, as

best shown in FIGURE 2. Preferably a main portion of the body is of approximately uniform width and has approximately parallel longitudinal edges, and the end edges of the stay body are rounded as indicated at 1a to eliminate sharp corners. The degree of flaring or bending of the end portions may be varied as desired depending upon the contour of the wearers body so as to afford the highest degree of comfort to the wearer.

' With such a combination of a stay and garment, we observed, with particular reference to FIGURE 2, that upon bending of the body of the wearer to the left of the figure, the outwardly extending end portions 3 of the stay will tend to follow the contour of the body and move away from the skin thereby to eliminate or reduce to the minimum the possibility of the end of the stay digging into or uncomfortably pressing the skin of the wearer of the garment.

The invention also contemplates a desirable method of making the covered stay some of the stages of which are illustrated in FIGURES 3 to 6, inclusive. The flat or straight body blank 1 is secured between two identical cover sections 2a and 2b each of which preferably comprises a strip of textile fabric having its edge portions folded inwardly as indicated at 2c and disposed in abutting relation to the inturned edge portions of the other strip, with the stay body blank 1 between them as shown by dotted lines in FIGURE 3. Preferably the cover sections are secured together by lines of stitches 5 that extend longitudinally of the strips and penetrate all of the plies or thicknesses thereof close to the longitudinal edges of the stay body. The strips are made longer than the stay to provide for the stitching 4 across the ends of the cover and outwardly beyond the ends of the stay body as shown in FIGURE 2. After the stay body has been secured between the cover sections, the assembly is subjected to a bending operation at either one or both ends depending upon the type of stay desired. As shown, both ends of the covered stay are subjected to bending operations, each along a line 6 extending transversely of the stay body in spaced relation to the corresponding end thereof, whereby the end portion of the stay body is bent in one direction out of the general plane of the body as best shown in FIGURES 5 and 2. The bending operation can be performed in any suitable way, for example by placing the assembly of the stay body and cover in prep After the bending operation, the bent ends of the stay body -will restrain sliding of the stay body relatively to the cover and the assembly can be secured to any desired garment to the upper or lower edge. It is preferable to stitch the cover to the garment along both of its transverse edges as indicated at 4 and along both of its longitudinal edges as indicated at 7 and zig-zag stitching is preferred although not essential.

A modification of the stay body is shown in FIGURES 7 and 8 where the body blank 8 is bent transversely at 9 before it is placed in the cover and short ribs 10 are formed as by die pressing the material of the stay body transversely of the lines of bending 9 to provide reinforcement against undesired or excessive bending of the outwardly bent end portions 11. As shown, the ends of each rib are disposed respectively in the corresponding outwar-dly bent end portion 11 and the main intermediate portion of the stay body. These reinforcing ribs 10 also prevent unintentional straightening or reverse bending of the outwardly bent or offset end portions 11 during ironing of a garment to which the stay is attached or when such a garment is under extreme strain.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that modifications and changes in the construction of the covered stay, the method of making it and the location thereof on the garment, may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A body-encircling garment which when applied to the body has its upper edge at the waistline and has at least one stay secured thereto and extending lengthwise of the upper edge portion of the garment, said stay being formed of a single elongated strip of resiliently flexible material and having a main portion having approximately parallel longitudinal edges and two end portions disposed at obtuse angles to said main portion and at the same side thereof and extending longitudinally from said main portion and outwardly of the garment with one of said end portions disposed at the upper edge of the garment and the 4 other end portion disposed below the waistline, providing for flexing of said end portions away from the skin of a wearer of the garment during body movements such as bending or stooping, said stay being secured to said garment at opposite ends of the stay.

2. A garment stay comprising a single elongated strip of resiliently flexible material bent transversely thereof adjacent to but along a transverse line in spaced relation to each end of the strip providing a main portion of substantially uniform Width and having approximately parallel longitudinal edges and two end portions each disposed at anobtuse angle to the plane of said main portion and at the same side of said main portion and extending longitudinally from the end of the main portion.

3. A garment stay as defined in claim 2 wherein there are reinforcing ribs extending transversely of the lines of bending of said strip.

4. A garment stay as defined as defined in claim 2 with the addition of a flexible cover encasing said strip formed of two cover sections each comprising a strip of textile fabric having its edge portions folded inwardly and disposed in abutting relation to the inturned edge portions of the other cover section with the stay strip between said folded fabn'c strips and with the ends of the strips extending beyond the ends of the stay, and lines of stitches extending longitudinally of the cover sections and penetrating all of the thicknesses thereof close to the longitudinal edges of the stay strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,179,156 Blair Apr. 11, 1916 1,259,217 Eccleston Mar. 12, 1918 1,893,960 Pease Ian. 10, 1933 2,501,899 Herbener Mar. 28, 1950 2,692,389 Lamkin et al. Oct. 26, 1954 2,912,984 Jensen Nov. 17, 1959 

1. A BODY ENCIRCLING GARMENT WHICH WHEN APPLIED TO THE BODY HAS ITS UPPER EDGE AT THE WAISTLINE AND HAS AT LEAST ONE STAY SECURED THERETO AND EXTENDING LENGTHWISE OF THE UPPER EDGE PORTION OF THE GARMENT, SAID STAY BEING FORMED OF A SINGLE ELONGATED STRIP OF RESILIENTLY FLEXIBLE MATERIAL AND HAVING A MAIN PORTION HAVING APPROXIMATELY PARALLEL LONGITUDINAL EDGES AND TWO END PORTIONS DISPOSED AT OBTUSE ANGLES TO SAID MAIN PORTION AND AT THE SAME SIDE THEREOF AND EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY FROM SAID MAIN PORTION AND OUTWARDLY OF THE GARMENT WITH ONE OF SAID END PORTIONS DISPOSED AT THE UPPER EDGE OF THE GARMENT AND THE OTHER END PORTION DISPOSED BELOW THE WAISTLINE, PROVIDING FOR FLEXING OF SAID END PORTIONS AWAY FROM THE SKIN OF A WEARER OF THE GARMENT DURING BODY MOVEMENTS SUCH AS BENDING OR STOOPING, SAID STAY BEING SECURED TO SAID GARMENT AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE STAY. 